The Future of Smart Homes from CES

Image from ThinkGeek
Imagine your home, all controlled by an app on your phone. That's one smart home.
We've talked a lot about advances in home lighting on this blog. Primarily about energy-efficiency, from LED bathroom lighting to LED path lights .
But the next innovation in efficiency is the smart home. These truly connected homes were all the rage recently at CES, the annual International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
Image from ThreadGroup
The smart home combines cloud data and user input for the most efficient and responsive home ever.
So what is a smart home? Well, imagine your home being accessible by an app on your phone. Lights, thermostat, blinds...even music, television and your rice cooker. All operated by a single app.
Now connect those things to real world data like outside temperatures and your own GPS location as you drive home from work. With that data in hand, your home could adjust temperatures and window blinds for maximum efficiency when you're not around.
Your rice cooker would only turn on when it senses you're 20 minutes away. Your favorite song could even play as you walk through the door.
Image from Architect Magazine
Honeywell is just one among many major companies entering the smart home market.
At CES, major players like Google, Apple, Honeywell and Samsung showcased devices and apps to manage home devices, from dishwashers to light bulbs.
And you can bet that as the lighting accessories, bulbs and other smart home products become available, we'll continue to talk about them and stock the ones that look best.